Lawyer: San Francisco student to be deported

SAN FRANCISCO 
Dozens of friends and colleagues of a City College of San Francisco student who may be deported to Peru next week staged a rally in front of Sen. Barbara Boxer's office Friday urging her to intervene.

Steve Li is scheduled to be deported to Peru by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on Monday, according to his attorney, Sin Yen Ling, of the Asian Law Caucus.

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice could not confirm Ling's claim although she said in a statement Li remains in custody as the agency seeks to make arrangements for his removal.

Carrying banners that read "Education, not Deportation" and "Bring Steve Home," supporters of Li delivered letters to Boxer that praised the 20-year-old and called for his release from a detention facility in Arizona.

"I think it's really upsetting that someone who is goal-oriented and an asset to the community is going to be taken from his family and flown to Peru," said Talia Coney, 23, a student at San Francisco State University and friend of Li's. "He grew up here. He is as American as I am."

Li and his parents were taken into custody by immigration officials in September.

The three came to the United States on tourist visas in 2002 from Peru. Trying to avoid persecution, Li's parents fled to the South American nation from China in the 1980s, said Lisa Chen, a spokeswoman for the Asian Law Caucus.

They applied for political asylum from China, but their application was denied several years ago.

Li was born in Peru and then came to the U.S. when he was 12, too young to understand the legal problems his family could face, Chen said. Li's parents, who are Chinese nationals, are being monitored by ICE although they do not face immediate deportation

"Unfortunately this does happen very often," Chen said. "Undocumented students get caught up in deportation hearings."

But some do receive one-year deferments that allow them to leave the detention center and fight their cases, Chen added.

Supporters of Li want Boxer to contact immigration officials on Li's behalf to at least delay any possible deportation plans. Chen said she could also introduce legislation to help his case.

Legislation pending in Congress, known as the DREAM Act, would give high school graduates who entered the U.S. illegally as children a path to legal residency. They would just have to spend two years in college or the military. The Asian Law Caucus supports its passage.

The group has also reached out to Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Li's behalf.

Boxer spokesman Zachary Coile said staff members met with Li's mother, attorney and others at the senator's San Francisco office Friday afternoon.

"We reiterated Senator Boxer's strong support for the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for tens of thousands of undocumented students who go to college or serve in the military," Coile said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press.

"Senator Boxer will keep working in the Senate until it becomes law."

Gil Duran, communications director for Sen. Feinstein, said her office was in contact with ICE and was "exploring all possible options."

While a statement from Drew Hammill, press secretary to Pelosi, said "Speaker Pelosi believes that Steve Li's case is a textbook example of the pressing need for comprehensive immigration reform and passage of the DREAM Act."